An Inverness man has been convicted of attempting to murder his own mother in a New Year’s Day attack in her home.
Bruce Davis repeatedly kicked and punched 78-year-old Thomasina McAskill, threw furniture at her, put his arm around her throat restricting her breathing and strangled her with a jumper during the brutal attack on January 1 of last year.
The wheelchair-bound pensioner was found severely injured on the floor of her Smithton Villas home by police officers.
Davis denied the charge throughout a five-day trial at the High Court in Inverness, but was convicted by majority.
In the moments after delivering their verdict, jurors learned that the 53-year-old had a previous conviction for attempted murder from 1987 – for which he was jailed for four years.
The trial had heard how neighbours were alerted to the attack by Ms McAskill’s screams.
One looked through a window and saw the 78-year-old’s wheelchair sitting empty.
Another described seeing Davis strike downwards toward where the pensioner was lying on the floor.
When police arrived an officer saw Davis with his arm around her neck “as if in a headlock”.
Pensioner: ‘He hit me’
A terrified Ms McAskill told officers “he hit me” and pointed at Davis.
The pensioner was taken to hospital by ambulance and was found to have suffered two broken ribs, a lung obstruction, a fracture to the left side of her jaw and two broken bones in her left leg.
In a statement to police from her hospital bed, she said: “I thought he was going to kill me, he was hell-bent on it.”
In a later statement, she described how her son had pulled a jumper around her neck and tightened it during the attack, leaving her struggling to breathe.
“I believe he was trying to strangle me with the jumper,” she said.
Ms McAskill, who has since died, also told officers: “I don’t want him near me again. I’ll never feel safe with him again – he has left me terrified.”
Giving evidence in his own defence Davis, who had been drinking vodka in his mother’s living room on the day of the attack, claimed he had simply been trying to help the pensioner after a fall.
Under questioning from defence counsel Graeme Brown he said: “I stumbled over my mother and fell on top of her.”
When asked by advocate depute Shahid Latif about the incident he said: “I never, ever assaulted her, ever.”
But a jury took under three hours to reject his version of events, returning a majority guilty verdict on the single charge of attempted murder.
A charge of threatening or abusive behaviour toward Ms McAskill on the same date had been withdrawn by the prosecution before deliberations began.
Second conviction for attempted murder
After the verdict was returned, Mr Latif handed up a schedule of Davis’ previous convictions.
He drew Lord Summers’ attention to a previous conviction for attempted murder from 1987, noting that Davis had been jailed for four years for that crime.
Mr Brown noted that his client had been 16-years-old at the time of that conviction and had never been sentenced to imprisonment in an adult prison.
He added that Davis had “a significant alcohol problem” at the time of the offence.
Lord Summers called for a criminal justice social work report and added: “You may anticipate a lengthy custodial sentence.”
Davis was remanded until sentencing, which will take place at the High Court in Edinburgh next month.
